LINCOLN PARK SHOCKER: SUPERINTENDENT DEPARTS
LINCOLN PARK NEWSLETTER: The retirement of the head of the National Capital Parks-East leaves treasures such Lincoln Park and Frederick Douglass' home without a permanent chief. PLUS: PARADE PICS
TARA MORRISON IS OUT AT NPS
by Tommy Woodward
National Park Service Superintendent Tara Morrison, who oversaw Lincoln Park and other historic sites in the National Capital Parks-East region, has left her role as chief of federal parks in D.C. and Maryland after eight and a half years.
Morrison retired last week from the National Parks Service after 28 years. Her departure comes as NPS faces headwinds in the Trump administration, which is slashing funding, staff and services in the Department of Interior. One estimate says Trump is cutting critical projects to protect National Parks by 90%.
An email sent to Morrison’s old email by the Lincoln Park Newsletter was returned. It said, attributed to Morrison, “Thank you for your email. I have retired. Deputy Superintendent Michael Commisso is serving as Acting Superintendent and can be reached via email at Michael_Commisso@nps.gov.
Commisso met with Friends of Capitol Hill Parks, the largest volunteer organization that serves Lincoln Park, in 2023 about resuming irrigation and water in the park. “We anticipate receiving design models from 3 contractors between May 15th and May 29th,” he said in 2023.
There still is no water in Lincoln Park, and urn gardeners haul water in to water the large concrete containers. The water supply is part of the backlog of maintenance.
Morrison was full of optimism when she became superintendent.
"I've dedicated my career to urban parks, and I have seen first-hand and believe in their power to improve people's lives and well-being," Morrison said in a news release when she was appointed. "The enormous possibilities of the Anacostia, the dedicated staff and partners, and the profound African American history preserved in these parks will inspire me every day, and I can't wait to get started."
Morrison previously had been the superintendent of Rock Creek Park before taking over for National Capital Parks-East, an area encompassing 1,200 acres of Anacostia Park, a space that dates to the L'Enfant Plan, and Oxon Cove.
As National Capital Parks-East (known sometimes as NACE) chief, she also oversaw Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, and national parks that honor heroes of American history, including Frederick Douglass and his home on Cedar Hill in Anacostia, the Carter Woodson Home and the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House.
The NACE superintendent also is responsible for overseeing the Fort Circle Parks, the area around and connecting the ring of earthen Civil War-era forts, such as Fort Lincoln, Fort Dupont and Fort Totten.
Morrison told the Hill Rag at the beginning of her tenure that she saw Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, as an unappreciated and under-utilized asset worthy of expanded educational and recreational opportunities, especially for young people in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound, Morrison began at the National Park Service as an intern in archeology in the District of Columbia. She worked for NPS in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, and worked at remnants of the Underground Railroad from West Virginia to Maine.
Morrison was the first Superintendent of African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City.
The problems in Lincoln Park seem to grow daily. Recently, a lamppost fell on a man in a hammock. A lawsuit was filed last year by a woman who stepped into a hole and injured herself. Trash cans are frequently overflowing. Friends of Lincoln Park seems largely inactive, has abandoned the urn that it sponsored; recently a Parks Service worker was trying to find “the nice lady” who ran the group so he could get the key for the kiosks back.
Park trouble is common, and the Parks Service is under stress.
The Center for American Progress said that Trump is defunding and firing workers at America’s public land agencies, which could mean a crisis for government parks and services.
“The Trump administration and DOGE have fired hundreds of rangers and land managers, making parks and public lands less safe, less clean, less accessible, and more crowded than ever before,” the Center for American Progress said in a report entitled, “The Trump Administration Is Recklessly Axing Funding and Staff for America’s National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands.”
The article continued, “At the same time, the president has even bigger designs to decimate the budgets and staff at U.S. public land agencies: the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).”
A new center analysis finds that the Trump administration’s 2026 budget would decrease funding for these public land agencies by more than a third of 2024 levels.
LINCOLN PARK GROUP MARCHES IN 4TH OF JULY PARADE
The best costume will win the annual GOLDEN WATERING CAN AWARD and will be awarded soon after the judges complete their ballots. The award is given every year by Friends of Capitol Hill Parks, the largest volunteer group serving Lincoln Park.
https://www.capitolhill4thparade.com/
BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL PERMITS TEXAS TO STEAL A BIG, BEAUTIFUL SPACE SHUTTLE
Buried in the sweeping legislation is an $85 million provision to move NASA's most-flown spacecraft from the National Air and Space Museum to Space Center Houston.
The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum is set to lose the iconic Discovery space shuttle.
President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration bill signed on Independence Day contained language effectively ordering the shuttle’s move to Texas.
Deep within the 900-page bill is a provision added by Texas' senators to transfer a "space vehicle" to a NASA center "involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew Program" and "placed on public exhibition at an entity within the Metropolitan Statistical Area where such center is located."
The vague language, written in such a way to skirt Senate restrictions on reconciliation bills, was aimed at achieving the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" introduced by GOP Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April.
The one, big, shameful bill sets aside $85 million to transport Discovery and construct a home for it at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
But the Smithsonian, which has displayed the shuttle at its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center next to Dulles airport in Northern Virginia since 2012, estimated that the actual cost would be more than $300 million. That includes the cost of the transfer, the new building to house it, preparations for an alternative museum display at the Smithsonian and other related costs.
THE BAND OF THE NATION’S CAPITAL TO PLAY JULY 10 IN LINCOLN PARK
The 257th Army Band, “The Band of the Nation’s Capital,” is the official musical ambassador for the D.C. Army National Guard.
The band boasts a proud lineage going back to the organizational lineage and association with the legendary Corcoran Cadets, the D.C. militia that inspired John Philip Sousa to compose his march of the same name.
Noteworthy performances include musical support for the Inauguration of President Obama, performances in Greece, Jamaica, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Panama.
Within the 257th Army Band, there are several musical groups which play a variety of music including classical, jazz and rock.
In addition to a concert band, the 257th has several music performance teams, including: jazz combo, rock band, pop ensemble, brass quintet and duet teams.
Lincoln Park hosts the 257th Army Band on Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m.
Here’s the UPDATED urn map
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1VAZgfCet1HjsOZBS8_WRa9vYzJILYqlRLcaXCnOL7Lw/edit?usp=sharing
The Fine Print
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Through consultation with NPS, PLANTS volunteers will purchase and install plants, which will also include aromatics.
The Lincoln Park Newsletter is parody, opinion and news serving the area sort of around Lincoln Park.
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Helen Betts is the chief copy editor and president of the copy editor’s union.
Mary Farran, ceo, president and publisher and queen of the parade
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